Kenmore War Memorial

The war memorial was erected in 1920 by funds raised from the public. It was originally located on a traffic island near the corner of Brookfield and Moggill roads, and was relocated to its current position in 1988.

The monument is a life-size statue of a light-horseman on an ornate base. It was made by A L Petrie & Sons, monument maker of Toowong. On the sides of the base are the 12 names of the men who were in the Boer War (1899-1902), as well as 48 men who went to the Great War (1914-1918) and returned. The names of the 19 men from that war who gave their lives are also listed.

Other conflicts commemorated are World War II, the Malayan Emergency, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. Some are recorded on separate monuments.

With the 100th anniversary of the Great War the men who are named are being researched by Kenmore High School Students with the support of the RSL as the ‘Adopt a Digger’ program.

One of the current projects of the society is to research the 12 men from the district who went to the Boer War. When completed it will be posted on the web.

The Local Men of Gallipoli

There are 66 men named on the Kenmore War Memorial from World War 1. Of those, 19 were killed. They came from the broader region including Kenmore, Moggill, Brookfield, Fig Tree Pocket and Pullenvale.

Thus far research shows six men enlisted in 1914 and 27 enlisted in 1915. The others were later. This pattern was common across Australia because of the publicity of the Gallipoli campaign in 1915.

There were nine men who were at Gallipoli. Three of them were killed at Gallipoli. Six survived, with one of those being killed in action in Egypt in 1917. The display is on eight of the men. One, Thomas Currie, appears to have been at Gallipoli but very little information is available.

Preserving History

Finding out and sharing the history of Kenmore and district helps provide a sense of continuity for a busy suburban community. Whilst not everyone wants to immerse themselves in historic research, most people are really interested to find out how the suburb operated as a farming community until the housing estates commenced in the 1950s. And, others who have lived in Kenmore for decades have a strong role in sharing their memories and photographs of life in the then ‘outer suburb’.

Kenmore and District Historical Society hopes to achieve on-going preservation and presentation of this history.